Bonus [2] : Have You Ever Heard of Stapling Your Lips Together?-3

He pulled himself to the edge of the couch, giving me a wary look at my small outburst. "Because." "Because?" He tapped at my stomach. "Because you're going to pop this one anytime soon and I want to see my new niece or nephew." "Dude." He sighed. "Emma and I are just having a bit of issues," "And you needed to get away?" Justin waved a hand. "She might move." "To where?" "Oregon." "In America?" "Yeah. It's this job she's always wanted but we didn't know she'd be transferred all the way down. And they're providing her everything while she's there." "And you don't want to move down there with her?" "We have everything back home. It's the job she's always wanted. I'm just conflicted. I told her I'll let her know what I think by the end of it." I looked at my brother, the guy who loved Emma with his whole being. He may be having thoughts about all of this, but I knew he was going to go with her. "You're making that face." He said. "What face?" "The-I already know what you're going to say and everything, but you'll figure it out on your own-face. That face that annoys the shit out of me." "Oops?" "No not oops. That's just how it is. That's the face." "Macy!" I heard Martha, our housekeeper yell. "I'm coming," I told Martha, starting to get up. I looked down at Justin. "You'll figure it out." "Figure it out? I'm not a detective." He muttered, his eyes caught on the show playing on the television screen. "That's good because you'd suck at being a detective," I said, walking out of the room. "Now get the hell off my couch and go take a shower to get all the nasty oils you call sweat off your body so you don't contaminate anything else in my house," I demanded. Justin shot me a look and I gave him a fake smile. "Please and thank you." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You dumbass, just take the broccoli." Of course, the father with his seven-year-old child in the room would swear. "Ivan, I'm not five," Andrew mumbled. "Stop acting like it then," I muttered, impaling the broccoli with my fork and shoving it into Andrew's mouth when it was open. He grimaced in response. "Alright," Vince clapped his hands, making Liz smile at his sudden change in energy. "Mace?" "Yes?" I asked, knowing where this was going. "Place your bets." He slid a paper over to me. Every single year, Vince Cahill and I had started to place bets on which team would win the football league season. Occasionally other Cahill's would join but it was something him and I bonded over. Even though Sam was the football player in the family, I had found out one summer that Vincent was an avid football watcher. I placed my finger next to the team I decided, and he raised an eyebrow. "Really?" "Did you see who they traded for left-wing defence? And their formation. Dude, they're going to win. Watch." Ivan looked over. "Not even your husband's team?" I leaned back in my chair. "Look-" "Here we go." My dad said, leaning forward. That's when literally everyone leaned forward at the table. These people. "You can't rely on one person for each team. Remember World Cup 2018? Everyone's like Neymar! Ronaldo! Messi! None of their teams even made it to semi-finals that year. So, listen, Sam's good, very good-" "Sounds like you're talking about your sex life." I heard Ivan mutter and Caleb let out a huge laugh as Phillip snickered. I glared at him. "Idiot. Anyway, he's their type of good. We all know it. But a unified team is what makes football at its best. It's what helps you win. Not one player." "So, you're saying they're not going to win." "If they take out that problematic mid-fielder who thinks he's the best on the team then maybe." "Is it that Scottish dude?" Ivan asked. "No, the Welsh guy." I confirmed. "Hughes, I think." "Ugh," Caleb made a face. "He's such a dick. And the biggest kiss ass." "Wasn't that the guy that got into that huge fight last season?" "That was so bad," Vince said, grabbing the wine bottle to pour some in Liz's glass. "He kept getting carded every single game, I'm surprised they haven't kicked him out for all the unnecessary violence." Andrew tapped me, pointing to my phone. "Sam's calling." I got up, excusing myself and made me towards the back of the house. My eyes went to the window where I could see the sun slowly starting to set, the sky's colours a bright purplish orange. My hand went to my stomach as I answered the call. "Hi." "Hey baby," he said and there was chatter in the background, letting me know he was out somewhere. He had been gone for a couple of days for another one of his football press sessions he couldn't get out of. "How is everything?" "Everything's pretty good actually. We're just all having dinner." "Remind me again who's everyone?" "Your mom and dad, my dad, Ivy, Justin, Andrew, Ivan, Natasha, Elena, Phillip and Caleb." "I thought Toby would make it?" "He couldn't. Although he sends his regards and says we should expect him in two weeks with Austin most likely." "Okay then," I heard him say something to someone else and there was a moment where I could sense he was moving as the voices in the background started fading away. When the voices were gone, and I heard a door shut, I knew he was in a room by himself. "How are you?"